SimAnimals Africa

There isn’t much to separate Africa from the first SimAnimals. You’re still in charge of a range of environments (savannah, jungle, river), each containing animals and plants to be looked after. There are a few goals for each stage, such as befriending a meerkat or getting an aardvark to destroy a termite mound, but it’s fairly aimless. It’s all massively cute, and far removed from the ‘lions nomming a hyena’ terror of a David Attenborough documentary, although Sir Dave would presumably approve of the fauna facts that are dished out.

Among the few new features are multiplayer options to either play co-operatively or trade discovered items; and the opportunity to get an in-game parrot to repeat things you say into the mic. These additions notwithstanding, the games are so similar (on DS at least) that all there is between them is the price and whether you prefer rabbits to hippos.

Jan 14, 2010